The Internet is an amazing tool and a resource that can provide you with access to all sorts of things, but increasingly, it has become a place of commerce and a method for conducting personal business. Just about everyone is familiar now with things such as online banking, bill paying, and even stock trading. You could easily have well over a hundred different accounts on various websites across the Internet, each one with a password tied to your account. Some of those accounts might even contain sensitive information, like your home address or your credit card number. With that in mind, it can be scary thinking about all the ways in which your information could be compromised. After all, identity theft is on the rise, and it seems to be in the news more frequently. Keeping your identity protected online isn’t too hard, though, as long as you keep a few simple things in mind.

Use a Variety of Passwords Across the Web

Never use the same password twice, no matter how tempting it is to make it easier to remember. Use a password keeper utility that is secure if you have trouble remembering your passwords. By using a different passkey on every website that you register, you limit the amount of damage that a security breach on a site can do. Instead of risking having your general use password exposed to hackers who break into a database, all they will be able to gain access to is the account on that website. Chances are, that’s not even what they’re after. Practicing good personal security like this will guarantee the sanctity of your information across the web.

Never Reveal Personal Information to Strangers Online

Never Reveal Personal Information

Remember what your parents used to tell you about talking to strangers on the Internet? While it’s certainly not the same as it used to be, you should still avoid revealing too much about yourself online to people whom you don’t know. This is because they may be able to use that small bit of information to find out much more about your life, up to and including your home address! This can be a huge hazard, and so as a precaution you should be vigilant to keep your real life separate from your online life. You may even consider creating a false persona to use to safeguard yourself.

Don’t Transmit Secure Information On Insecure Connections

When using websites such as an online bank, or when you’re making purchases online, you should never do so through an insecure connection or on a website which does not feature good encryption software. If you take the risk of allowing your financial details to be transmitted across the open web, it’s possible that anyone could intercept that data and steal your identity. To prevent this from happening, always be sure to check and see if the site has a valid SSL security certificate in place, and do not use the site for transactions if it is not secure.

Be Careful Not to Fall for Phishing Attempts

Only Make Secure Purchases Online

There are many people out there who would love to trick you out of your password, and there are many methods with which they will try to do it. They could set up fake websites which spoof the real one, or they could send you messages posing to be site administrators asking for your password. Always be careful about where you share your information like this, and always closely examine the URLs of the websites you visit to ensure they are the real thing. Don’t be fooled. Typos and other grammatical errors are a big red flag warning that someone is trying to phish information out of you.

Keeping yourself entertained can sometimes be an expensive proposition. Going out to the movies each weekend, buying video games, subscribing to Netflix and Hulu – all of these can add up quite quickly and leave your budget decimated. Not only are these expensive habits, it can sometimes seem like a lot of other potential hobbies that are out there have a high initial cost, or require continual new purchases, such as model-making, where you’ll need to be buying kits, tools, and paints all of the time. Instead of trying to break into one of these hobbies, think about the fact that there are other activities you can undertake which have much lower costs and can be just as rewarding!

Painting Doesn’t Have to be Expensive

If you like to make art, it can be overwhelming to walk into an art store and see how much all the various kinds of supplies cost, with everything from canvas to acrylic paints costing more than you can probably budget for right now. Don’t worry, though, because there is an excellent way to spend your time painting at a fraction of the cost. Save used cardboard, or go to your local grocery store and ask for some of their extra cardboard boxes. These are just going to be thrown away anyhow, so chances are you’ll be able to score a good amount of them. Now, all you have to do is buy an inexpensive jar of primer and a few bottles of cheap craft paints! Paint the white primer over the cardboard, covering it thoroughly, and then allow your pieces to dry. You can cut the cardboard into various shapes as you desire. Once it’s primed and ready, go to town! Craft paints will look just as good once they’ve dried, and you can hang up your new pieces around the home or give them to friends. They look great, and it’s a fun way to practice painting on the cheap.

Start Gardening and It Can Even Save You Money

Gardening Can Be An Exciting Hobby

If you have a spacious yard or room to install some window boxes on the outside of your home, gardening is a fun and inexpensive hobby to pick up, and you can learn a lot doing it, too. Take a trip down to your local garden center and tell a clerk that you’re trying to get started on the cheap, and ask them if they could point out the best supplies for a beginning gardener. Soil, seeds, and some budget tools are all you really need especially if you’re going to be using your yard. Consider buying vegetable seeds or herb plants, and then carefully tend your garden. Watch it grow, and reap the benefits. If you’re growing vegetables or fresh herbs, you’ll even be able to cut down on your grocery bill with only a little bit of effort each day. If the climate is right, you could grow everything from banana peppers to tomatoes, squash, zucchini, or potatoes! If you don’t feel like having a vegetable garden but instead want to beautify your property with flowers, stick to perennials and other plants that won’t die at the end of the year and require replacement, or else you’ll find that your cheap hobby is getting expensive.

Join a Community Theater and Be Someone Else for a Day

Join The Community Theater

By far one of the most fun and exciting new experiences you can give yourself is to get involved with your local community theater. This will be a group of people who want to come together and put on plays and musicals for your town, and there’s usually no cost to you to join! Of course, you can always donate to the cause if you so desire, but acting is its own reward, and if you have any interest in the dramatic arts, this is an option you should definitely be investigating. You’ll get the excitement of learning the ins and outs of stage theater while also meeting new and different people, connections which could lead to a lifetime of friendship! Instead of throwing money away going to the movies every week, consider how much you stand to gain by getting involved in the dramatic process instead, and research what theaters are accepting auditions in your area.

If keeping focused and motivated at the gym is an issue for you, don’t worry. Most people who are new to the gym are having the same problem. Some people give up on the whole thing before even really giving it a chance or trying to work it out. Don’t be that person. Keeping motivated at the gym is simple if you know what to do, and making a playlist can be just what you need to kick it into gear. Following this simple guide will ensure that you get the perfect playlist for every workout.

Tempo Changes

Choose The Right Songs To Work Out

First off, make your playlist organized. Start it out slow and steady. This is for your warm up period. After that, turn up the tempo a bit with each song. This’ll help you get pumped up for your workout. Believe it or not, music tempo can actually do a lot for your energy levels, and will give you the boost you need to get a great workout in. Keep a fast pace for a while, then start winding it down. After all, you need to have some time for a cool down as well. Stopping abruptly can end in you being too exhausted or even getting injured. Your muscles needed to warm up, and at the end they need to slow it down.

Familiar Songs

You’re going to be in a much better mood while you’re working out if you use some familiar tunes to motivate you. Whether it’s that techno band you love, some upbeat R&B, or even your favorite soundtrack, picking out your own music will help you have a great time and even look forward to gym visits. Plenty of people online will give you the choice to download premade playlists, but those don’t ever work as well. They’re usually just instrumental tracks that increase in tempo over time, and if that doesn’t sound fun at all, it’s because it isn’t. Just like when you’re driving in the car, this is your time. You should be able to pick your own music.

Set Times

Create The Ultimate Exercise Playlist

Last, make sure you set a time limit for your playlists. If you go for the same time every time, then it would be fine to only have one playlist. If you want to switch up your routine to keep things fresh, then having multiple playlists can really come in handy. Plan out how long you want to spend at the gym, and work accordingly. If you just start picking all your favorite songs, the playlist could end up being hundreds of songs long and won’t help you at all. It takes more thought this way, but the end product is infinitely more effective. Just make sure to plan out time spans for warm up, full workout mode, and cool down. This way you’ll learn your playlist, and will know when you’re coming to a stop. It’s way better than looking at your watch over and over again, and it keeps you much more entertained. Usually an hour to an hour and a half is a good amount of time.

Every relationship has its ups and downs, and sometimes these downs include fierce arguments. Sometimes the ups include friendly ribbing and teasing on both sides. Either way, in your relationship, arguments are inevitable. But how do you draw the line between harmless banter and emotional abuse? We have a few signs for you to take note of. If your relationship starts to reek of emotional abuse, please seek health from the nearest abuse shelter immediately.

Emotional abuse is hard to define for some, as it doesn’t leave physical scars on your person. However, words still have the ability to hurt, and they can worm themselves into our thinking, changing our very thought and personality.

Your Partner Invalidates Your Feelings

One sign that something is wrong would be your partner refusing to acknowledge your feelings. If it was just harmless banter, your partner will stop if he or she realizes that they are making you uncomfortable, or after you make it clear to them that you are uncomfortable with their teasing. This is a sign of a healthy relationship, as in healthy relationships, both parties respect each other’s personal boundaries, and if someone says they are not alright with something, the right thing to do would be to apologize and back off.

You Are In An Abusive Relationship

In an abusive relationship however, your partner invalidates your feelings. He or she may humiliate you or degrade you. For instance, does your partner make fun of you or degrade you in front of other people even after you tell them to stop? Do they use sarcasm as a way to tease you and degrade you even after you made it clear this is not okay? This is a sign that something is wrong. Your partner may push the blame back onto you, saying that you are ‘too sensitive’ and should ‘learn to take a joke.’ He or she may tell you that your feelings and opinions are wrong. If this happens often you may have a big problem. If your partner regularly dismisses, disregards and ridicules your feelings and opinions, you may be in an emotionally abuse relationship.

Your Partner Likes to Control You Another sign that something is wrong would be your partner controlling nearly, if not every aspect of your life. From where you should eat to the friends you are allowed to meet, you feel like you have to ask for permission to do simple things on your own. This is not normal. Unless you and your partner have specifically agreed on some slave roleplay in bed and in your private lives, this kind of controlling behavior is not healthy. No matter what 50 Shades of Gray states, having someone control your life is neither normal nor erotic; it is incredibly nerve-wrecking and drains your life like nothing else.

If you sense that your relationship resembles one of a master-slave, you may need to hightail it out of there. Healthy relationships are full of compromise and mutual trust, of support and love even when the chips are down. If your partner keeps treating you like you’re inferior to them, belittling your achievements and constantly reminding you of your shortcomings, you should leave as fast as possible.

Your Partner Never Blames Themselves

In The Blame Game…. You Always Loose

Another sign that something is wrong is when your partner never takes responsibility for their own actions, choosing to blame someone else, namely you for their behavior. They may say that it was your actions or your feelings that pushed them to say or do the things they did. If the arguments are mostly caused by one party who refuses to take responsibility for his or her own actions, you may be in an abusive relationship.

In healthy relationships, the arguments that take place are likely to be caused and resolved by both parties. Most healthy relationships do not have one person constantly picking fights and the other party constantly apologizing. Harmless banter is something that occurs both ways, both you and your partner take turns to rib each other playfully throughout the course of your relationship. If your partner is unable to take your harmless banter, yet is fully capable of degrading you in public, you may be in an abusive relationship.

If you’ve spent any time at all working in or managing an office, then you know one of the most important factors in determining whether or not your workplace functions efficiently is the relationship that exists between management and the office staff. If the relationship is bad or becomes adversarial, the quality of work will drop quickly, office morale will plummet, and management will find themselves in the unenviable position of having to replace a number of employees. If you’re managing an office on your own now and you want to avoid finding yourself in this situation, then cultivating an atmosphere of respect between your managers and your personnel is your best option. How does one even go about doing that, though? If you’re confused or unsure about how to proceed with making your office a great place to work, trying taking these tips to heart.

Listen to Employee Ideas and Complaints

Listen To Your Employees

The easiest method for developing a healthy respect between staff and managers is straightforward: just listen to what they have to say. While you may feel like you have the best sense of how the business is going because you’re a manager, that isn’t true. The people who come in to your office every day to do the "grunt work" and toil away to make sure your deadlines are always met are the ones who really know what’s working and what isn’t when it comes to the company’s methodology. Set up a suggestion box, and actually listen to the suggestions that your employees give. Make the changes they suggest if you can figure out a method for implementing them. When staff members see that you’re making the effort to listen to them and improve their work environment, not only will they develop a healthy respect for you, but they’ll also work harder, too.

Don’t Act Like Staff Are Expendable

The quickest way to completely destroy any respect between staff and management is to treat your employees like they are replaceable cogs in a machine that doesn’t care about them. Speaking to your employees with any sort of disdain, abusing them verbally, or acting like they are stupid is a great way to make sure that nobody likes or listens to you. If you’re constantly doling out disrespect to your employees, even if they are making costly or annoying mistakes, how can you expect them to respect you at all? Instead, make each staff member feel as though they are a valued member of the team whose work and insight are always appreciated.

Be Friendly and Develop a Rapport With Your Employees

Be A Good Office Manager

Don’t always talk to your employees about work. It’s good to have casual conversations with them from time to time, even when you’re all on the clock. By adding a little bit of levity into their interactions with their boss, they will stop being intimidated by you and start seeing you in the right way. That is, though they will still see you as a manager, they will also see you as a colleague with whom they can be honest. Show your employees that you’ll go to bat for them, and when you find yourself in a bind right before a deadline, you can rest easy knowing that they’ll show up when asked to work hard to make sure you all accomplish the tasks set out before you.